Chapter 10-- Lone Voice Radio: Part I

Sunday, December 27th—11:41 AM

Christmas got us all in a funk, I think. We’ve been fighting all weekend, about stupid things, really.

We’re still working on decoding the message that we got on the DAMCOM. I’ve tried everything, number ciphers, shifting letter ciphers, but nothing seems to work. My brain is fried at this point.

10:13 PM

As we’re going to bed, I finally have a chance to talk with Jay, alone. He’s sitting outside the camper, on the front steps. I opened the door quietly, step out, and settle down beside him. Jay doesn’t look at me.

“I have to go find my brother,” he says. “I’m not chipped. I have an advantage.”

I shake my head. “I’m sorry, Jay, but that’s a terrible idea. How would you even start looking for him? We have hardly any leads or any way into the government.” I remember the women at the hospital, the one who was taken right before our eyes. That day seems so long ago, like a previous lifetime. Before everything went bad.

Jay shrugs weakly and says “Sin, my parents aren’t going to go look for him and my aunt has two other sons to take care of. I’m all he has.”

“Let me repeat what I just said: we’re would you even start? Where would you look?”

“I’d start at the local hospitals. Work my way out.”

Time to bring down the ax. “I’m vetoing this plan, Jay. You’re not going.”

Jay stands up angrily. “Since when are you in charge?! Who gave you the right to give me orders?!”

I stand also, and face him as I snap back “You know too much! You get caught and this whole station could be exposed. Yeah, I know your brother is important. But we have seven other lives at stake here.”

“So you’re that kind of rationalist,” he says. “You believe in the group over the individual. It would be nice if we could operate like that, but every life is important. And if I went, I would never rat on you guys! Never! I’m a fan, always will be!”

“Maybe,” I say slowly, taken aback by Jay’s comment about that kind of rationalist. The way he put it made me sound like I was in the wrong. But I was looking out for my crew. The people I promised to save. “I never said anything about purposefully ratting. I’m sure the Novites have… other… ways of getting information. And I can’t trust that you’d—”

“That I’d what? Stay strong under pressure? And what if this was your brother, Sin? I bet you’d go back for him! Heck, you’d go back for any of these guys on this crew! So why is my brother any different?!”

“To clarify, if it compromised the station, I wouldn’t be going on any rescue missions.”

“Yeah right. Ten dollars that you would go back.”

“And while I’m here,” I finish, “No one is getting caught.”

I open the door and let it slam behind me. I turn and I am greeted by six pairs of eyes, all unblinking, staring. “Woah,” breathes Raymond.

I ignore them and lock myself in the bathroom. I stare into the mirror and try to weigh both options, but I’m too angry to think clearly. What is Jay thinking, putting us all in danger like that?

Would I go back for my crew? If it was one of my crew that went missing?

Despite what I told Jay, I’d like to think that I would rescue them. And yet…

Every life is important, Singularity.

Of course it is. But can I potentially compromise the safety of seven kids for the unlikely safety of another?

My head is spinning and I clutch the sink, stabilizing myself.

Who decides who lives and who dies, Singularity? Do you have that right?

Monday, December 28th—6:34 AM

Jay is gone.

He must have left sometime last night, after we all went to sleep.

The only thing left in his wake was a note. It wasn’t sappy, nor did it offer any consolation. All it gave us was the facts.

Guys,

I have to go find my brother. Hope to see you all soon. I did some research and there’s this guy who can get me a fake chip. I’ll be going there first, and then onward.

--Jay

PS: I’ll stay on the DAMCOM. Keep in touch.

“Jeez,” says Alicia after I read the note aloud to the crew. “Do you think he’s really—”

“Yeah,” I said, my stomach clenching up at the thought of Jay heading back, alone, to catch a lead on his brother. “He’s gone.”

We all stand around the letter, no one moving, and no one speaking a word. “It’s my fault,” I say quietly.

“No,” says Matt, “It’s not.”

Everyone murmurs in agreement with Matt, and as we split, I notice Matt has a black eye. I didn’t see it before, but it’s become obvious in the brightening day.

“Uh, Matt?”

Matt, who has resumed surfing the forums on the DAMCOM, looks up. “What?” There’s an edge to his voice, like a bitter storm is being hid underneath the surface. I notice his face darkens when my eyes linger on the bruise.

“Never mind.”

I don’t need another fight this early in the morning.

Wednesday, December 30th—3:18 PM

Jay didn’t come back, and so we hit the road again early this morning.

A lot can happen in a week. As we drive back through civilizations, I see phantom towns containing ghostly people. There are no children playing outside, there are hardly any cars on the road. People rush in and out of the rest stops like scared rabbits, like they’re afraid to be outside.

I think the worst part of it all was seeing the microchips. Watching people shop with them was horrific on a different kind of level. Some people, like us paid with cash, but most people would end up swiping their wrist under the scanner, the chip acting as a credit card.

Entire cities seemed to be in a trance. I felt like the world had suddenly gone on autopilot.

Despite it all, we found allies in unlikely places.

Once we caught on, we saw hints of our show all over the place. Our broadcast schedule was written on a whiteboard in a grungy café. We heard out intro music playing quietly as we gassed up; someone must have been catching up on our broadcast.

Whether we liked it or not, our message was spreading.

5:35 PM

We have reached what may be our new home.

It’s called “El Burro Riendo Inn,” located in Northern Vermont.

When we drive in, I can already see signs that the place has been abandoned recently. The grass is overgrown and there’s not a soul to be found, but when we’re exploring the place, we find food in the restaurant that’s less than a month old.

“Either the owners went missing or they ran off,” says Kaylah.

The entire place sprawls over several acres. There’s a couple buildings with inn rooms, a main building with two suites upstairs, the restaurant, and even a semi-clean swimming pool.

We lodge in the main building, cranking up the heat and setting up all of our radio equipment in one of the offices.

“Damn, this is nice!” I hear Gavin yell as he explores the upstairs suites. “The view is insane!”

“How is the electricity working?” asks Lauren. “Wouldn’t it be turned off if they stopped paying the electric bills?”

“Not necessarily,” says Alicia. “Maybe—”

At the same time, Gavin comes running back down stairs. “Yo, they’re running this place on solar panels! I can see the panel grid from one of the rooms! God bless the eco-friendly Vermonters!”

We all hoot and cheer at this, and I finally feel like everything may start going in our way.

That is, until I check the DAMCOM.

“Aw, take a look at this crap,” I say as I read a report.

“Novite leaders have issued a mandate establishing the formation of education centers for youth living under the Novite regime. University students will be relocated and qualified youth will be relocated to universities to receive a top-notch education with some of the finest educators the regime has to offer.”

Underneath the posted report, DAMCOM users have already started adding their own comments.

“*Coughs* Did someone say Re-Education?”

“If this isn’t some sort of propaganda-spreading, brain-washing initiative, I’ll be damned.”

“What is even going on?”

“Shoot,” I say. “We’re all really screwed now.”

“I don’t like the sound of ‘relocating’ college students,” says Lauren. “My sister is at Amherst. What will happen to her?”

“I… don’t know,” I say carefully. “Maybe they’re… enlisting them?”

“Jeez,” says Matt, running his hand through his hair. “Enlisting? How many college students are there? If they were to enlist them, the Novites would have a massive army.”

“Exactly.”

I remember Jay, traveling alone, possibly unaware of this new development. What if he got snatched up and put into Re-Education? I tried to push the image away, but I could already see a broken, blank doppelganger of Jay, mental state demolished beyond belief.

C’mon, what’s the worst that could happen, Singularity? This isn’t some sci-fi movie. This is 2015. This is America. What’s the worst that could happen?

Note to self: Never ask that question. Because I was already streaming through every worst case scenario, knowing that it could all only get worse.

The Inn felt so safe, so much like a home away from it all. It scared me, how much I could forget about my family, about the rest of the world.

Thursday, December 31st—12:04 PM

We found out that the relocations happen literally tomorrow. I can see it all now; the Novites must have been planning for this operation for months. There’s no time for kids to run, for the university students to hide. I know, hundreds of miles away, in my hometown, families are being ripped apart, possibly permanently.

What’s their goal with all of this? What do the Novites think they’ll accomplish with the chipping, with the missing people, with the relocations?

God, I know it’s all connected. It has to be.

A/N

LONE VOICE RADIO IS BACK!!!

I’m still offering 20 points to whoever can crack the DAMCOM code from the last chapter. Answer will be revealed next week.

To compensate for the lost time, I got some titbits for you guys:

--Someone else will be leaving the crew soon

--The crew will have their first secret-secret operation

--Jay becomes essential to making new discoveries

--The Novites are not what they seem. At all.

--We’ll be hearing some from Toz Vedyo very soon

There’s no code this week, work on that DAMCOM one. There is a keyword, and I did tell you what it was…

Vigenère, man.